Grain drill



April 15, 1930. w. BOUCHER ,497

GRAIN DRILL Filed Match 12, 1928 2 Shee'fis-Sheet 1 mun-inn Ea 1N VENTORMai/ace fiozzcher j q TTORNEY April 15, 1930. w. BOUCHER 1,754,497

GRAIN DRILL Filed March 12, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7w wm INVENTORldallac'e fioac/ver BY Q fig jwM TTOR/VEY Patented Apr. 15, 1930 PATENT'OIFFICE WALLACE noucnnn, or MINNEOLA, KANSAS GRAIN DRILLApp1icationfi1ed March 12, 1928. serial No. 261,022."

This invention relates to a grain drill, the primary object being toprovide a grain drill wwhich will effectually introduce the seed graininto the ground at uniform intervals and at uniformv depths, as well asto provide means whereby the driver of a tractor for'propelling thedrill over the ground may observe the discharge ends of the grain"spouts or boots so that he can tell whether or not the grain isdischarging properly.

It is also the purpose of my invention to provide a grain drill capableof being attached to the tractor with an ordinary hitch so that thegrain drill will follow behind the 1.5 tractor in making turns andthereby eliminate the difliculty encountered with the ord1- narymultiple gang grain drill. Prior to my invention it was customary toattach a plurality of gangs of grain drill elements to a cross-bar, eachgang having more or less freedom of movement, particularly sidewisemovement. As a result, whenever a tractor turned a corner, there wasliability of the front wheels of the tractor skidding due to the factthat there is a side thrust created by the drills. Since the tractor isworking in loose ground, the front Wheelsdo not hold well enough topermit a short turn and as a result, the outside drill drifts into thefence.

With my invention, the frame, in so far as the forward movement isconcerned, is rigid although provision is made for an up and downmovement of the drill elements to take care of inequalities in theground andto insure the grain being fed at proper depths into the groundand by providing the frame substantially rigid so that the two gangs ofdrill elements operate practically as a single unit with the concavefaces of the discs in 40, each gang facing away from the longitudinalcenter, the tendency to sidewisemovement will be equalized. Theconstruction is such that the draft is comparatively light and byproviding the discs on eachside of the longitudinalcenter, one slightlyin advance of the other so that the angles of their shaft are acutewithrespeot to the longitudinalcenter, tendency toclogging or draggingof loose trashy ground in front of the discs is eliminated. This isamaterial advantage porting bar and one of the discs connected overmachines employing discs whose axials are at right angles to the line ofdraft. 'Another advantage of myinvention' is that the seed boxes can beeasily filled from a wagon driven in rear of the frame, a feature whichis not possible where a plurality of gangs instepped relation arefastened to a crossbar. The latter method is also objectionable becausein so far as I am aware, no adequate method has been devised forhitching the '60 several gangs to atractor, the common means nowgenerally employed for propelling drills.

The novelty of my invention will be more thoroughly understood byreference to the following description in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a top plan view of a drill constructed in accordance with myinvention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the hitch;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the draw-bar or the longitudinal frame-barshowing the tail or castor wheel and the means for securing the sidegangs to the draw-bar.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the disc suptheret Fig. 5 is a rear viewof the drill and Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. l. i

The draw-bar is shown as consisting of two commercial angle irons 1 and2 held in spaced relation by the blocks 3, 4, 5 and 6. The draw-barcarries hinge members 7, 8, 9, 1O, 11 and 12 to provide flexibleconnections between thegangs and the draw-bar. The hinge members eachconsist of a bar with outstanding lugs- 13 and 14: provided with pins orpintles 15 around which the ends of the gang frames are bent so that theouter ends of the gang frames can move up and down to a slight extent asthe drill is being propelled over the ground. The gang frames onopposite sides of the longitudinal centen bar or draft bar aresubstantially alike in construction. Each consists of outwardly 9 andforwardly disposed parallel bars 16 and 17 the ends 18 and 19 of whichengage the pintles 15. The outer ends of the bars 16 and 17 are;connectedby an end tie-bar 20, thelength of which is approximately equal1 to the distance between the inner ends of the bars 17 and 18 so that asubstantially rectangular gang frame is provided. Depending from thedraft-bar or center bar, consisting of the angles 1 and 2, is abracket-bar 21 having two clevis-like hinged end members 22 and 23provided with slightly elongated slots 24 and 25 in which are pins 26 towhich the ends of the brace-bars 27 are fastened, there being one foreach gang frame. The brace-bars 27 are connected to the rectangular gangframe bars by depending bars 28 so that they are hung below the gangframes and in turn become gan bars for the discs. 5 There are aplurality of brackets 29 on the bars 27 to which are pivoted disc barsor tongues 30 at 31, the outer end of the bar 30 carrying the discs 32which are ulled over the ground. The bars 28 are ad itionally braced 20to the bars 27 by the brace-bars 33. The gang frames carry axials 34 and35 on which the traction wheels 36 and 37 are mounted, the rear of theframe being supported by a castor wheel 38, having its spindle 39 in theblock :5 3 as will be clearly understood by reference to F igure 3. Theaxials carry bevelled gears 40 and 41 which mesh with bevelled gears 42and 43 in the bars 44 and 45 and these gears carry sprockets to drivethe chains, one being 30 shown at (Fig. 6) which rotate the shafts t? onwhichthe measuring sheels 48 for the seed boxes 49 are mounted. Themechanism for feeding the seed is old and well known and forms no partof my invention. The seed 5 boxes discharge in the usual way into thespouts or boots 50 with the usual discharge ends or shoes 51 terminatingjust above the ground so that the grain will be deposited into theground in the usual way. The feeding shaft 47 will rotate in aclock-wise direction, as viewed in Fig. 6, allowing the grain to bedeposited into the troughs 52 so that the operator from the tractor, bylooking backward, can have a full View of the feeding mechanism todetermine whether the ain 1s droppin into the s outs or boots. he outerends 0 the gang rames are connected to forward and inward braces ortiebars 53 and 54 which are fastened to the hinge members 11 and 12 sothat the members 53 and 54 become tension members, preventing the outerends of the gang frames from swinging backwards but allowing a free upand down movement of the outer ends 0 theframe permitting the frame toadjust itself to the lay of ground at all times. It will beapparent thenthat the frame is substantially diamond-shaped and that for all intentsand purposes, it is rigid except that the gang may have the slight upand down movement as heretofore explained. At the forward end of thecenter bar, consisting of the angles 1 and 2, is a clevis 55 to which ahitch or draft-bar 56 may be adjusted by .5 means of the'holes 57 andthe bolt 58, to elevate or depress the bar 56 with respect to theparticular tractor 59 used as the propelling means.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the drill can be made of anyappropriate width, that is, to provide any number of discs and drillspouts, that is free from side-thrust and therefore will follow directlybehind the tractor, that it can be attached to the tractor by anordinary hitch, that it will evenly feed the grain in the groundirrespective of slight inequalities in the ground and that the operatorfrom the tractor will at all times have the discharges of the feed boxeswhere he can View them to determine how the drill is feeding. Therefore,a drill constructed in accordance with my invention is amaterialimpovement over those employing methods common to the arts.

The discs may be forced into the ground with the common coil spring andplunger construction usually employed with present day drills, butinasmuch as the particular drilling mechanism used is immaterial, I havedeemed it unnecessary to elaborately show any particular means forforcing the discs into the ground.

What I claim and desire to secure by Let'- ters Patent is 1. A graindrill comprising a central longitudinal draft-bar, two gang framesfastoned to the rear portion of the draft-bar with their outer ends inadvance of the rear ends of the gangs, tie-bars connecting the outerends of the gang frames to the forward end of the draft-bar, discsconnected to the gang frames and grain feeding mechanism above thediscs.

2. A grain drill comprising a central longitudinal draft-bar, gangframes secured to the rear end of the draft-bar on opposite sidesthereof with their outer ends extending in advance of the point at whichthe gang frames are secured to the draft-bar,- tie-rods for connectingthe outer ends of the gang frames to the forward end ofthe draft-bar,seed feeding mechanism associated with the gang frames and discs carriedby the gang frames.

3. A grain drill comprising a central longitudinal draft-bar, gangframes secured to the rear end of the draft-bar on opposite sidesthereof with their outer ends extending in advance of the point at whichthe gang frames are secured to the draft-bar, tie-rods for connectingthe outer ends of the gang frames to the forward end of the draft-bar,seed feeding mechanism associated with the gang frames, discs carried bythe gang frames, wheels carried by the outer ends of the gang frames anda castor wheel supporting the rear end of the draft-bar.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WALLACE BOUOHER.

